Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Millets are becoming
very popular now and many are replacing rice with millets. Millets are said to
protect your heart health, lower type II diabetes, lowers risk of cancer,
boosts respiratory health, improves your immune system etc.

I have been trying
out recipes using different millets for sometime now. Millets can easily
replace the rice in most of the recipes like pongal, upma, kozhukattai, idly,
dosai etc. So here is my first post using millets. Hope to post a few more
soon.

For this
Kozhukattai, I have followed the same procedure as my upma Kozhukattai. The
only thing is it requires a little more water to cook than the rice rava. Also,
I find making kozhukattai with millets easier, as they are already very tiny
and in the rava form. So no need to make rava.

Makes around 30 medium sized Kozhukattais

What you'll need

Samai/Little Millet
– 2 cup

Scraped Fresh/frozen
coconut – 1 cup

Salt to taste

Green Chillies – 3
to 4

Curry Leaves – few
sprigs

For tempering

Coconut Oil – 1.5
tbsp

Mustard Seeds – 1
tsp

Channa Dal/Kadala
Paruppu – 1 tbsp

Urad dal/Ulutham
Paruppu – 2 tsp

Asafoetida/Hing – a
generous pinch

Method

Wash and carefully
drain the samai/little millet and set aside.

Heat a Kadai with
oil, temper with mustard seeds, once they splutter, add the channa dal and urad
dal and fry until the dals turn golden.

Add the chopped
green chillies, curry leaves and hing, mix well.

Now add 6 cups of water.
Also add the scraped coconut and salt to taste. Bring this to a rolling boil.

Now add the little
millet and mix well. Cook covered in low heat for 5 to 8 minutes or until the
water is absorbed and the mixture resembles upma. Keep stirring once in a while.

Transfer to a plate
and let it and let it cool down a little.

Wet you palms, and
form golf ball sized balls or oval shape

Place on a steamer
or idly plate. Repeat with remaining mixture.

Steam cook for 10
minutes.

Serve warm with
coconut chutney or Sambar.

Note:

The mixture should
not become too crumbly, then you will not be able to form balls.

Don’t let the
mixture cool too much, make the balls when warm.

You could dry roast about 1/4 cup of Tuar dal and powder it along with red chillies and add it while the water is boiling along with the coconut. This also gives a good taste.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

In our house we observe monthly fasts for Ekadashi. I have
been observing the fast for a few years now. This Kanji is usually prepared on
fasting days, especially on Shivarathri. My mother and MIL both prepare this
kanji for Ekadashis too. This is very much like the paruppu payasam, except
that since it is a kanji, we avoid adding cardamom and roasted cashewnuts.

There is another variation to this kanji, which is
prepared by adding both Broken wheat or Godhumai Ravai and Pasi Paruppu. That
also tastes very good.

Makes 3 to 4 cups

What you’ll need

Split Moong Dal/Payatham paruppu/Pasi Paruppu – ¾ cup

Powdered Jaggery – ¾ cup

Milk – 2.5 to 3 cup

Method

Heat a Kadai, and dry roast the dal until it starts
changing color and a nice aroma starts coming.

Transfer it to a vessel, add just enough water, the water
level needs to be just above the dal and pressure cook it for 3 whistles or
until the dal is very soft. You could also cook it in a vessel by adding water
and boiling.

In the meanwhile,heat a kadai, add the powdered jaggery with ½ cup of water, once the
jaggery is dissolved, strain for impurities and pour it back into the kadai.

When the jaggery syrup starts boiling, add the cooked and
mashed dal and let it boil for another 3 to 4 minutes.

Remove from heat and add the milk, mix well.

That’s it, paruppu kanji is ready.

Note:

Usually when made on fasting days, no cardamom or
cashewnuts are added, but you can add if you like.

Also, make sure not to add too much water while cooking
the dal, else the kanji will become very water.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Vinayaka
Chaturthi/Ganesh Chaturthi is just around the corner. Ganesha Chaturthi is one
of my favourite festivals. Kozhukattais/Modakams are the most important
neivdyam or offering prepared on this occasion. My favourite ones being the
traditional thengai Poorna Kozhukattai and the Ulundu Kozhukattai.

The
fried Modakams are also a very popular offering. These are usually prepared for
Ganapati Homam. I had been wanting to try out these for a long time and finally
made them a couple of days back. They turned out very nice.

I
have also posted few other kozhukattais with different fillings. So this
chaturthi, do try out one of these kozhukattais.

What you’ll need

For outer covering

All Purpose Flour/Maida – ½ cup

Semolina/Rava – ½ tbsp

Ghee – 1 tsp

Salt – a pinch

Water to knead

For the filling

Fresh Scraped Coconut – ¾ cup

Powdered Jaggery – ¾ cup

Cardamom – 4 to 5, powdered

Ghee – 1 tsp

Oil to deep fry

Method

In a wide bowl, add the maida, rava,
pinch of salt, and mix well.

Add the ghee and rub well with
fingers.

Now add water little at a time and
knead into a stiff dough. Slightly stiffer than the regular chappati dough.

Cover and keep aside for at least 30
mins.

For the filling,

Heat a kadai, and add the powdered
jaggery with ¼ cup of water.

Once the jaggery is dissolved, strain
for impurities and pour back the jaggery water into the same kadai.

Now let this come to a rolling boil,
now add the scraped coconut and keep stirring.

Cook until it has thickened well and
the mixture starts leaving the sides of the kadai. Wet your hands and take a
small portion of the mixture, you should be able to form a ball easily.

Add the cardamom powder and ghee and
mix well.

Remove from heat. Transfer to another
plate.

Once the mixture is warm, grease your
hands lightly and form small marble sized balls and keep aside.

To make the modakams

Roll out the dough on a lightly
floured surface, into a thin disk, cut out small circles with a sharp lid.

Place one of the coconut balls, in
the centre of the small cut out circle, gather all the edges and seal tightly.

Repeat with others. Make sure to seal
the edges tightly else, the filling make come out and spoil the oil.

Heat oil for deep frying, let it be
hot but now smoking hot.

Drop the modakams a few at a time and
fry on medium heat until the outer covering turns golden.

Drain on to a tissue paper. Delicious
modakams are ready.

Note:

Make sure to seal the edges very
tight, else the modakam might open and the filling will come out and spoil the
oil.

Also make sure the filling is not
very moist or watery, this will also result in leaky modakams.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Mullu Murukku or Muthusaram as it is called in the Palakkad Iyer community, is a popular savory prepared on festive occassions. It is one of the items in the "Cheeru"/Seeru, in a wedding. It is one of my favorite snack varieties. But somehow, it makes an appearance very rarely in my kitchen. Most of the times, I end up preparing either the thenkuzhal or ribbon pakodam as these are better liked by the family.

This time I wanted to try this and got the recipe from my mother. They turned out very well and were loved by all at home.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Gokulashtami or Sri Krishna Jayanthi - the birth of Lord Krishna, this year falls on September 5th, 2015. Krishna Jayanthi is celebrated with great fervor across India. A variety of sweets and savories are prepared to celebrate the birth of Krishna.My MIL says that for Gokulashtami and Diwali, we should keep the "Ennai Chatti" meaning some savory should be fried in the house.So here is a list of traditional recipes usually made on Gokulashtami.